


Taken With

by hablikseesthestars



Category: Arrival (2016)
Genre: Abduction, Action/Adventure, Alien Abduction, Aliens, Badass, Female Character of Color, Female Protagonist, Future Fic, Linguistics, Multi, is it bad that i already want to write a prequel to a fic i haven't written?, or regular, probably, the most important tag of all
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-20
Updated: 2017-03-11
Packaged: 2018-09-10 15:35:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,226
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8922730
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hablikseesthestars/pseuds/hablikseesthestars
Summary: It is 3000 years in the future, and the aliens have returned to Earth in need of help. But very little is the same, both for the aliens and for the humans. Together, lead by a single human girl, they must find a way to connect and save the alien race before it is too late.





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> That feel when a movie's so good that you have to make an entirely new account just to write your weird nerd fiction about an alien-linguistics movie. #nobodylookatme

Thursday/December 15/5016

A missive to the past from your futures. You are lost to us, like a memory encased in fog. We have forgotten much of you, but we strive to remember. We strive to remember because our present speaks of you and your accomplishments. Our people have found some of your words, and we emulate it for you and by you so that you will know that you have not failed. Our worlds are wider, our thoughts are greater, and a great hope resonates within us.

Thank you, mother. Thank you, father. Thank you, bearers of hearts and light. Do not let it die out. Do not let it fade. You have found us, and we will find you again.

Ez X. Ra-  
Last Heart


	2. The Start, a Weekday

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Forgive me the lateness pls. Life is a bit of a plague as of late.

_This is W. Her mother was and is a force to be reckoned with, much like the never-ending, all-consuming red eye of Jupiter. She consumed herself too often, one too many times. And then W found herself in the arms of her father, one contentious night. I can take you there. You can see for yourself. I'll help you feel the words. They're in your time now._

_Ez X. Ra-_

 

"Cas."

"No, one more minute. I can show you- here, just let me- let me find it!"

Cas dug through a pile of canvases, scattering paintbrushes and a cloudy mug of water in the process. She was searching frantically, something made difficult by the utter chaos of the room. The men in sickly green smocks glanced at her husband warily. He tried again, a little more urgently.

"Cas."

She tossed painting after painting into piles of debris, flashes of landscapes, symbols and colors with each one thrown.

"I know it's here, it's in here, and then you'll understand! You won't have to do this!"

Another look from the green men, and then they took a step towards Cas, but Sy stepped between them and his wife, his dark eyes beseeching.

"Please, wait outside. I've got this."

It was entirely against procedure. "Sir, I really don't think-"

"I know what you think, I know what this looks like, but you don't have to-"

"We do have to, because-"

"You DON'T have to because I am telling you that-"

"Sir, we've waited long enough. It's time."

"No!"

"Yes, it's time to-"

"It is time when I SAY it is time! She is MY WIFE!"

Sy was so angry. He never let himself get this angry. The two men glanced at each other before the argumentative green gave a nod. "Five minutes."

They left the room. Cas had stopped her rummaging and hesitated before speaking.

"Sy-"

Sy collapsed into a chair, running a hand over his close-cropped, coiled hair. "We don't have time for this, Cas."

"I found it, though! I found it!" she rushed over to his side, crouching by the chair, clutching a small painting to her chest.

He looked at her and he could see everything. Everything they'd been, everything they'd had. He could see her hope and his desperation, wide green eyes as wide as ever. He'd spent a good amount of time staring into those eyes, wondering how he'd been so lucky to find her. And then so unlucky.

"What did you find, Cas." he felt tired now.

She stood up, quivering with excitement, nervously tucking a stray strand of dirty blonde hair behind her ear. Her skirt rustled as she stepped even closer, hovering over him, almost face-to-face. Without saying a word, she turned around the painting.

It was blue. Sy really didn't know what he had been expecting.

"Cas."

"Do you see?? Do you see it?? It's there! The words are there! They're trapped inside!"

"Cas, that's a bunch of different blues. It's a beautiful abstract, but it does not help with-"

"It's a language! A language that's inside all of us, but we don't know it! Except for Eadie! Eadie speaks it! I know it! I saw her! This is her! This is her, Sy! This is her!"

Where before Sy had been defeated, slumped in the chair, he now tensed. "That is not our daughter."

"We have to prepare her for them! She needs to know!"

"Know what, Cas? That her mother wants to sacrifice her to aliens??"

Cas covered Sy's hands with her own. "Prepare, Sy. Prepare her. Baby don't you see? Don't you get it?"

"No." Sy shook his head, looking away, tears forming in the corner of his eyes.

"Our daughter is special! She is powerful!"

"Stop it."

"She's going to change everything! It'll be like the fables of old times! You know! You know how I've been reading them, and I had that vision! And they're all true! Every one of them! And they can take Eadie up unto them, and have her undone!"

Sy looked at his wife and it was like he was looking at a stranger. "Do you even understand what you're saying?"

"You don't believe me. You _need_ to believe me! Baby, I love you! I _know_ you!"

Cas ran her hands up and down his arms, one grazing over his chest. Sy shook his head, closing his eyes.

"You understand me! I'm not crazy! I'm a prophet. I was chosen, just like our daughter."

She climbed into his lap slowly, fingers kneading into the fabric of his shirt, lips running up his neck.

"Cas, please." his voice cracked.

"I can make you feel it. I can make you understand."

She ground down against his crotch and he groaned, his hands running up her thighs. Just one last time, he thought to himself. Once more, and he could let her go. Once more, and his heart would stop burrowing itself into his chest at the sight of her. He could do this. He was strong enough. He slowly pushed her skirt up.

"Yes!" she sighed and bit at the tip of his ear, and then he was kissing her. God, he was kissing her. He couldn't let her go, what was he thinking? He _needed_ this, and he needed her, and she was _his_.

She was pulling off her shirt and he was kissing his way up her flushed chest, and it was everything. God, it was everything! And then-

"Ugh! Yes! Darling, for them!"

Reality was a fierce foe. He stopped.

"Sy?"

"Get off me."

"Sy? Baby, what's wrong? What's-?"

He stopped her hands from searching along his body, trapping them at her sides. His eyes were deadened. "Get. Off me."

Slowly she stood up, putting her shirt back on without breaking eye contact. "You don't believe me."

"That's not what matters, Cas, and you know it."

"What does matter then?"

He stood up. "Eadie! Eadie matters! You're her mother!"

"I am her mother! And I know what's best for her!"

"You don't have the slightest clue what's best for her! You don't-"

"I'm going to save her! I'm going to redeem her! She will be taken up, and she will be more powerful than anyone who has ever walked this earth!"

"I don't care! It doesn't _matter!_ " Sy overturned the nearest table in frustration, the contents scattering and smashing on the floor. There was a pause. Then he took a moment to compose himself, sighing and calmly turning back to his wife, who was looking alarmed to say the least.

"Cas, I'm sorry, but I need you to listen to me, alright? Even if what you're saying is true, even if I'm wrong and you're right and the whole world is waiting for our daughter to be some kind of messiah, do you really think what you're doing to her is healthy? Who do you think she is? Because I know who she is, she is a child! She is not a weapon! She is not an answer! She is our daughter! And she deserves a mother that loves and protects her, not one that scares her! Not one that scares me!"

There was a long pause, Sy was breathing heavily. Cas had backed herself against the wall, and was unconsciously curling and uncurling the strings hanging off the curtains. Sy waited, a little hope left as her eyes darted around the room.

"I won't go with them."

Sy felt the last of his hopes shatter, and then nodded. 

"Then Eadie comes with me."

"No."

They stared at each other for what felt like an eternity, and then Sy turned around and walked to the door, Cas quickly trailing after him.

"No!"

Sy ignored his wife, rounding the corner into their entryway where the men in green smocks stared at him wide-eyed. He ignored them as well in favor of the stairs, taking them two at a time.

"Sy! Sy!"

She was following him, but moving a little slower than he was at this time. Disbelief was clouding her judgment. She still had some misconceptions about him. He had no more about her. Sy opened the door to his daughter's bedroom, turning on the light. She had been asleep, but the light quickly took care of that. His heart thudded alive when she used small fists to shove aside her blankets, sleep making her movements sluggish.

"Daddy?"

"C'mon, baby, we've got to go."

He scooped her up in her favorite blanket, grabbing the two stuffed foxes that never left her side and then turned to leave. Cas blocked the doorway, tears streaming down her face.

"Sy, no! Don't you do this! Don't you do this to me! Don't you take her away!"

Eadie's face tilted back. She was starting to get worried. Sy tried to shield her, pulling her blanket up and over her curly hair like a hood. "Why is mommy upset?"

"Mommy's upset because we have to go away for a bit, but we'll be back soon to visit, I promise. Cas, move!"

"No! She is _my_ daughter! You can't do this! You have no right!"

"I have every right!"

He tightened his hold on Eadie, trying to shove past Cas, but she held her ground, pulling at his arms.

"Sy! Sy!"

"Stop it! Let go!"

"Sy, we're a family! She _needs_ me! I understand who she is! I'm her mother! Sy-!"

"Cas! Stop!" 

Sy wrestled back his arm, still holding Eadie against his chest. She had started crying quietly, and tucked her face into his shoulder. He felt an anger then that he'd never felt towards his wife before. He straightened his posture and lowered his voice.

"Cas, you know what? If you can promise me, right here and right now, that you can commit not only to me, not only to your passions, but to our daughter. To her wants, her needs, and her growth, regardless of the sacrifices that may mean on your part. Regardless of what dreams and ambitions for her you may need to give up. Regardless of your pain, because we are meant to protect her from pain, not cause her pain. If you can commit to all those things, then I will not leave. We will stay together. And you can believe in as many aliens as you want to, I don't give a damn. But I will not, I will _not_ , stay here and watch you hurt our daughter."

Cas crossed her arms over her chest, hugging herself. "Pain is a part of life, Sy."

"Not in the way you see it for Eadie."

She nodded slowly, and then stepped aside. She was calling his bluff. "Stay."

He hesitated for a moment, hugging his daughter. But one look into his wife's eyes and he could see it was still there. His desperation. His need. This decision was not about him. Sy stopped looking at his wife and walked out the door with Eadie, never looking back. Even as his heart broke. Even as his daughter screamed. Even as he could hear his wife wailing behind him. The men in the sickly green smocks looked shocked and confused. Still Sy kept walking.

"She has rejected treatment. We're leaving."

The men in green smocks followed Sy out the door and shut it after them, leaving Cas alone in an empty house. The next time Sy and Eadie came to visit, they would find that nothing had moved. Only the paintings changed shape. Never Eadie's mother's mind.


	3. Wind in the Trees

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Am I late again to update? Yes. But is my life also still a disaster? Yes. Will I hopefully be updating more frequently in the future? Also yes.

Dearest and passed over.

I have been said to have a disproportionate soul, left gasping a little too often like some bloated creature defying its creation. It has done me rare good, but it has done others a great deal. 

Why do I tell you this? Because I am what they call the Last Heart. But I have known your times, and you would better know me as a janitor. I pick so many things up, but rarely do I let them fall. In your blessings, you had millions of me, but all I have left is me.

All I have left is me.

I reach my heart to yours, that you would understand. They call me the Last Heart, but I know. Time is not as it seems. I am the first. Now put yourself first.

Ez X. Ra-

 

**** **** ****  
**** **** ****  
**** **** ****

 

_22 Years Later_

 

"I don't think we should visit mom today."

Sy, who had been peacefully drinking a cup of tea and staring out the window, placed the cup firmly down on the counter and turned to face his daughter. "And why is that?"

"Dad."

Sy crossed his arms over his chest. "And why is that?"

Eadie slumped down in her seat at the kitchen table, picking at the grain of the wood instead of picking at her half-eaten breakfast. "You could get fined for having wooden furniture, you know. It's against like four different government regulations."

"It's a family heirloom, it breathes our history." Sy paused, and then went to join his daughter at the table, sitting across from her. "Why don't you want to go see mom?"

Eadie rolled her eyes and slumped in her chair. Sy couldn't help but smile. She looked a little like her mother. Same wide green eyes, and a bit in the shape of her face and her small frame. She looked just enough like her mother but more than enough like him that she seemed out of sorts in an ordinary kitchen. It upset Sy that she grew up to have a bit of an alien look about her, Eadie was a little disconcerting in a staring contest. This thrilled her mother.

"Dad, it only upsets you. Every time we go you're sad. Every time we leave you're sad. It's all sad, all the time and I think we should come up with a solution. Like you getting back together with mom."

Okay, he was wrong, she was too much like her mother. 

"We're not discussing this." Sy picked up Eadie's plate and brought it to the sink.

"You still love her, dad! It's so obvious!"

"Not up for discussion!" Sy focused on composting and sorting cutlery for cleaning.

"It's been years, I'm an adult! You don't have to make decisions for me anymore! You don't need to make sacrifices for no reason! I want you to be happy! Don't you want that?"

"Some things aren't about being happy. Sometimes the people you love make choices, and you can never go back to the way things were."

Eadie was suddenly silent, and Sy turned around, leaving the dishes for now. The sink would get to them anyway. Sy was so old-fashioned. Even when it wasn't necessary, he liked the routine of household tasks. He joined Eadie at the table and waited, hands folded in front of him.

"Why does everything seem simpler for other families?"

"It's not."

"But you could have community-raised me, mom could have gotten help, we could have lived closer to the city instead of in the middle of a desert, we could have picked a cooler planet than earth for christ's sake!"

"Are those things you wanted?"

He felt a wave of confusion and conflicting emotions wash over him, pickled with blues. "Eadie."

"Sorry." Eadie took a deep breath. The wave receded. "I don't know. I know we've talked about this. I understand your choices, dad. I just don't know if I agree with them."

"Eadie, that's fine. You know that. I'm not perfect. I made the choices I thought were best for you and your mom. Now's the time for you to make the choices you think are best for yourself."

"Ugh, dad, no!" Eadie rolled her eyes, hyper-aware of what was coming.

"You were offered a place to do further studies at one of the top institutions in the world, I'm just saying that-"

"No!"

"It's a great opportunity!"

"You don't even _like_ organizations of like _any_ kind! You don't trust them!"

"That doesn't mean you wouldn't benefit from being a part of more of them! That guy from NASA is still sending me messages about your big theoretical physics project!"

"Daaaaaaaaaad!"

Sy grinned, getting up and walking towards the door. "Come on. It's Sunday. Time to go see your mom."

She followed him eventually. She always did. Sy had tried to wean her off listening to him, tried to instill some disobedience or at the very least some doubt, but Eadie was still so trusting. The world still seemed wide and good to her, and Sy was mostly glad of this. Mostly, except for the part of him that knew she was in for some let-downs.

But maybe she'd had some already, he thought as they prepared for the walk and she chatted on about why NASA was garbage. She'd gone to school in the city. She knew other people's lives. She'd kept herself safe and quiet. Maybe she was stronger than he gave her credit for.

They were halfway to the house he'd built for Cas, far up the river in the uncharted, before he felt it. Something different in the air.

"- and mom didn't like it either, and you know how mom loves every time I learn a new 'series of symbols' as she calls them. That has to say something! I know you don't like me to say it, but she's a little psychic dad. You can't act like my abilities are totally believable but mom's are like completely ridiculous, it's just-"

"Did you feel that?" he stopped walking.

"Yeah, like 20 minutes ago, why?"

Sy grumbled to himself. There were days when he thought his daughter spent too much time in the city, it was desensitizing her from the abnormal. "C'mon, we've got to get to your mother's house."

He increased the pace, Eadie half-jogging a little to keep up.

"So dad..."

"Yeah?" Sy looked around. Everything looked the same. The red rocks. The dust. The CreatedTM greenery, leftovers from the early 3000's. But he could have sworn that the water in the air felt different. Smelled different. It cut through the dry light breeze like a knife.

"I wanted to tell you I've been kind of seeing someone."

_What?_ That was different. Sy was completely thrown for a loop and stopped in his tracks, almost knocking Eadie over. "Who??"

"Oh look, we're almost at mom's house."

"Wait a minute, Eadie! Eadie!"

Eadie didn't listen, pushing past him around the curve of rocks and cluster of TreasTM while he just stood there. Frozen. Just a couple more steps. He'd been taking them slower lately, savoring the minutes where his heart still beat normally in his chest. Sy took a deep breath and picked up the pace.

And there she was. Standing in the doorway. Her hair was half-tied back in a messy, intricate pattern and her blue cotton dress fluttered out in the breeze. Sy had read that people used to age, long ago. Times like these he thought that seemed better.

Eadie ran up the last of the stone path and hugged her mom, laughing at something she whispered in her ear and then chatting back. Sy could feel himself walking slower, slower, and then there was so little space between them.

"-so I told dad about Teoh, except I haven't really, oh hi dad!"

"So the name's Teoh?"

"Mhm, gotta go check out mom's new paintings, later!"

Trickster. Out of habit, he met Cas's eyes and grinned before he could compose himself. He let the smile fade and then nodded.

"Cas."

"Sy. It's been a while."

She reached out to touch him, and he stepped back. Her hand faltered in the air, and then fell back to tuck a stray hair behind her ear. She hardened.

"I see. Maybe we should join Eadie and the paintings."

Sy nodded again. "Sounds good."

And that was how it was going to be. The last time he'd seen her had been the storm, all those months ago. If he closed his eyes, he could still feel the way his wet shirt clung to his chest. The wind whipping through the canyon as he had walked determinedly to Cas's house. Her hair dripping down the skin of his back.

Sy shook his head. Not now. Not ever. He followed Cas down the hall to the sound of Eadie's enthusiasm.

"Wow, you've done so much in a week! Did you look up that painter I told you about? The one from the 2010's? I feel like I can see the influence. Ooo, I think I like this one best mom! It's gorgeous!"

They entered the room and Eadie swung around, holding up an abstract in Cas's mess of a study that reminded Sy of a windy forest. He swallowed, and averted his eyes to the walls, which Cas had taken to painting when she ran out of canvas. They were a riot of color, and with the large glass windows thrown open to let in the sun it made the whole room seem festive. It was enticing, the warmth, the floral rainbow. He met Cas's eyes, just for a minute.

She smiled at him. "That one goes with a song."

The press of a button and music filled the room. He recognized it. Sy narrowed his eyes. Eadie was moving with the slow thudding beat, holding the painting in front of her like a reluctant dance partner.

"Yup, yup. I see it, I totally see it mom! This is great work! I can really feel it! It's almost-"

Sy looked awkwardly at the floor, running his hand quickly back and forth over his hair. Cas chuckled, and Eadie put the painting down like it had just fallen in a pool of toxic waste.

"Gonna leave that one right there and move on tooooo this one!"

A pause. In her haste to get away from the last painting Eadie had rummaged through a pile stacked up against her mother's bookcase, pulling out a painting at random that looked to Sy a bit like a solar eclipse.

"Huh."

Eadie seemed transfixed, and the longer she stared the more Cas's demeanor changed. She went from smiling, relaxed, almost teasing, to the intensity Sy hated to see. She was walking towards Eadie.

"You can feel it."

"Cas!" Sy warned.

"Honey, tell me! Tell me you can feel it!"

Eadie broke he gaze with the painting, her eyes out of focus. She seemed lost, and her confusion scared Sy more than anything else. "I- I don't-"

"Cas, stop!"

But Cas didn't stop. She never stopped. She rushed towards Eadie, grabbing hold of her arm. "You can feel it, she feels it! I can tell! I knew it! Baby you need to listen to those feelings, they're coming! They're coming for you, it's so soon! You need to let me show you what you're capable of so that you can be stronger than them when they-"

Sy rushed to Eadie's side. "STOP! NOW!"

Silence, and then Sy looked down. He had grabbed Cas's arm and pulled her towards him without even realizing it. He dropped his hold on her wrist suddenly, like she was burning him. A wide, pale face stared back at him as he did. Hurt, but also ashamed.

"Sy." Cas whispered.

Sy ignored her. "You were right, Eadie. Today wasn't a good day to visit. We're going now."

And now she was touching him, grabbing his arm. "Sy, no! I'm sorry! I have the whole day planned! I made lunch, and we can eat it by the river, and I won't talk about it anymore I promise! Just-"

She placed a hand on the side of his face, even as he tried to turn away. Her thumb slid over the line of his cheekbones. "Stay for a while."

They were lost in each other. Lost in the moment. Lost in the infinite possibilities, the worlds they could make together, the amazing se-

"Okay, I'm thinking maybe I should go, but also leave you two alone so you can-"

"We're leaving!" Sy barked back at Eadie.

Eadie rolled her eyes. "Alright, great solution. Who needs to work through emotions anyway."

Sy took one last look at Cas and then marched right back out the door into the desert air, trailed by his daughter. The scent of sharp water was getting stronger, but at this point Sy wasn't thinking about anything except home. Home. Home.

It upset him that his wife's face still flashed in front of his eyes whenever he thought of that word.


End file.
